Financial History Issue 122 (Summer 2017) | Page 27

Kiernan and His Wall Street Financial News Bureau Kiernan’s Wall Street Financial News Bureau distributed breaking news on ship- ping, railroad and construction, as well as information from the New York Stock Exchange, to clients around the country. Kiernan launched the business using his own savings and borrowing from family and friends. The news agency’s office was in the heart of the Financial District at 12 Broad Street and known as “Kiernan’s Corner,” a hub of socializing and gossip- ing for journalists and brokers. “John J. Kiernan was one of the best known men in Wall Street, and one of the most popular. He knew every bank presi- dent, every trust company official and every member of the Stock Exchange,” noted The (New York) World, which also provided this description of Kiernan: Kiernan was born on February 1, 1845, and was the eldest of six children. Prior to starting his news bureau, he worked in all aspects of the business. As a teenager, he was a messenger boy for the Magnetic Telegraph Company and then worked in the foreign news division of The Associ- ated Press, where he rowed out in the har- bor to greet ships arriving from Europe. Once on board, Kiernan reviewed Euro- pean newspapers, interviewed passengers and crew and was able to deliver news to the AP’s subscribers a day before the competition. He also worked in financial advertising with the Albery Frank & Co. Kiernan’s news business at first distrib- uted handwritten financial news bulletins, known as “flimsies;” they were produced with a stylus written on books of tis- sue paper sheets and carbon paper that would produce about 24 copies simulta- neously. These bulletins, generally 200 words or less, were rushed to brokerage offices by a small army of messenger boys. News developments drove the production schedule, and the Kiernan bulletins were sent out “hourly, half-hourly or oftener, as the development of financial news might dictate.” The Kiernan bulletins included items such as London stock quotations an hour ahead of the New York Stock Exchange opening, a weekly statement of bank- ing financial conditions, railway company earnings and changes in freight rates. With this method in hand, the Kiernan News Agency was known as the leading financial news provider. “For years, his Wall street news agency was